Modular office systems have become increasingly popular over the last decade for customizing open office space into compartmental individualized semi-private office areas. These systems are particularly useful in modern unpartitioned office buildings where the construction of permanent office or privacy partitions would be quite expensive, particularly where the tenant does not have a sufficiently long term lease to justify the expenditure for the construction of permanent office subdivisions.
These modular office systems basically consist of a plurality of standard vertical panels that are easily connectable to one another in either a straight line, a simple 90 degree corner, a "T" configuration, or a four-way 90 degree crossing configuration. Present day office systems of this type include panels in a plurality of standard widths, for example, 24 inch width, 30 inch width, and 48 inch width. Each of these panels has a rectangular peripheral frame assembly over which decorative exterior cover panels are mounted. This frame is adapted to carry one or more electrical receptacles on the lower horizontal frame member, and these receptacles are referred to as baseline receptacles. In 48 inch panels there are frequently provided two of these receptacles or receptacle openings, and in the 24 inch and 30 inch panels, one receptacle adaptation is frequently provided. In addition to the baseline receptacle openings or adaptations, these modular panels are provided with an adaptation for a higher receptacle, commonly referred to as a beltline receptacle.
During the installation of these modular office systems, the installing contractor will subcontract to an electrical contractor the job of installing the beltline and baseline receptacles in the frames after the frames have been set up and prior to the addition of the covering panels to the frames. Presently, conventional receptacle boxes are mounted on the frame by the contractor and the boxes are interconnected by either BX cable or conduit. This requires the electrical contractor to measure the distance between receptacles and to cut the BX or conduit to the needed dimensions. This is a particular problem because as noted above the panels have a variety of standard widths. Another problem is that the standard receptacle boxes and conventional wiring techniques are not acceptable in these modular office systems in locales with very strict fire codes.
In my U.S. Pat. No. 4,899,018, I describe an electrical raceway or routing system for standardized modular office systems that includes strengthening ribs in bottom plates which are utilized to guide and lock the present baseline boxes to the panels.
In the type of modular panels that routing system is adapted, a lower clearance is provided in each panel to accommodate routing systems, and this area is bounded on the bottom by a base plate, its sides by removable covers, and its top by a top plate. The panel is supported on the base plate by a plurality of tubular guide posts. The bottom plate has a pair of spaced ribs in the form of inverted U-shaped projections that run linearly along the base plate solely for strength purposes.
These strengthening ribs in the base plate are utilized as tracks to guide and lock the baseline boxes in position. Toward this end, the baseline box is provided with a bottom slide that takes the form of a channel member fixed to the bottom of the box with the legs of the channel being spaced so they just fit between the base plate strengthening ribs. This facilitates installation of the box because the ribs permit the installer to slide the baseline box back and forth until it is in alignment with the opening in the removable cover. It also transversely locates the box in the routing area and assures axial alignment of the box with respect to the panel itself.
In my U.S. Pat. No. 4,808,768, I describe an electric raceway or routing system for standardized modular office systems that can be installed without the use of any special tools, without cutting any cable or conduit, using only a simple screwdriver.
This electric routing system included a plurality of standard baseline boxes, one for each width panel. The baseline box for the 48 inch panel is 32 inches, and has two receptacle mounting locations, the baseline box for the 30 inch panel is 14 inches and has one central receptacle adapter, and the baseline box for the 24 inch panel is 8 inches in length and also has a central receptacle adapter. These baseline boxes are interconnected by standard length tubular connectors regardless of whether the box is a 32 inch box, a 14 inch box or an 8 inch box. There are two standard connectors each approximately 171/4 inches in length, one straight and one a 90 degree corner connector. These connectors enclose the electrical conductors between the baseline box mounted receptacles. The connectors, which are rectangular tubular sections, are all the same length even when connecting a 24 inch panel to a 48 inch panel because the baseline boxes all have a length with a fixed ratio to the width of its associated panel.
After the modular frames are erected, the electrical subcontractor interconnects the boxes with the standard tubular connectors, wires the receptacles together, screws the appropriate sized baseline box to each of the lower frame members with screws that go through the bottom of the boxes into the frame, fastens the receptacles to the boxes, and replaces the covers on the boxes and the installation is complete without the need for any BX or conduit cutting or receptacle box modification.